Grokking the LP: Corporate America Ain't The Free Market

A couple of years ago, I helped out a Junior State of America event for high schoolers interested in politics. At one of the day's programs, the JSA kids could ask questions of a panel of representatives from several political parties. One of the panelists, an extreme leftist from either the Socialist or Peace and Freedom Party (I forget which), launched into a diatribe about Libertarians being shills for exploitative corporate interests.

The Libertarian panelist sat through the socialist's speech with a bemused look on his face. Like every Libertarian I know, he actually agreed with pretty much every criticism the socialist leveled at big corporations.

Libertarians get this a lot. Because we are enthusiastic supporters of free markets, we are assumed to approve of every abusive act that takes place under the label of "capitalism". In fact, Libertarians have a lot of qualms about corporate America.

A corporation, per se, is a benign thing. Incorporation is just another way of structuring a business. But when people who hold government power start handing out breaks to their buddies in the corporate world, we've left the world of free markets.

And the idea that the legal rights of an individual should be conferred on a corporation strikes Libertarians as perverse. (By the way, the whole corporate personhood idea was hatched from a court case that originated here in Santa Clara County:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood)

Perhaps the biggest communication barrier between leftists and libertarians is that when leftists talk about capitalism they're referring to mixed state/corporate economy while Libertarians are talking about competition among companies that receive no special privileges from the government.

Read more about corporate welfare:

"Policy Spotlight: Corporate Welfare"

"Corporate welfare takes many forms, ranging from direct gifts for research and development, to overseas marketing, to tax-free public financing of sports stadiums."

"Corporate Welfare Information Center"

"The $150 billion for corporate subsidies and tax benefits eclipses the annual budget deficit of $130 billion. It's more than the $145 billion paid out annually for the core programs of the social welfare state: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), student aid, housing, food and nutrition, and all direct public assistance (excluding Social Security and medical care)."